Karnataka has informed the Supreme Court that it is facing a “severe drought situation” both in the Cauvery and Krishna basins and it may not be feasible to release any water from its reservoirs after September 12.
Blaming Tamil Nadu for its water problems, Karnataka said it would however comply with the Central Water Management Authority’s (CWMA) direction on August 29 to release 5,000 cusecs of water for the next 15 days, that is, till September 12.
Karnataka said the drought situation had put a “heavy burden” on the State government.
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“In the Cauvery basin, at present on September 4, the live storage is 56.043 tmc. The expected inflows are about 40 tmc. As against this kitty or available water, the requirement of Karnataka for the remaining part of the season, taking August 11 as the base, is 140 tmc as submitted before the CWMA. Therefore, I submit that it may not be feasible to further release any water from the reservoirs in Karnataka after September 12, that is, after complying with the directions of the CWMA meeting held on August 29 without risking the needs of Karnataka,” Karnataka said in a rejoinder.
Review petition
Meanwhile, Karnataka said it had filed a review petition with the CWMA on September 2 to reduce the release of water from 5,000 to 3,000 cusecs per day.
It said a review had been sought on the ground that outflows from the Mettur reservoir in Tamil Nadu had been reduced from 10,000 to 8,000 cusecs, which might indicate water availability from the north-east and/or groundwater resources in the delta region where it existed in abundance.
Karnataka said it had released 37,869 cusecs of water in the six days between August 29 and September 3 as against 30,000 cusecs. The State said it reserved its right to “adjust” the 7,869 cusecs excess in the coming days.
The rejoinder said the water distress in the whole Cauvery basin of Karnataka was much more than 60.12% calculated by the CWMA. Shortfall of rainfall was itself about 66% in the catchment below the reservoirs in Karnataka and the inter-State border.
“As a result of the shortfall of rain, the inflow contribution from this part of the catchment, which is about 45% of 177.25 tmc during the normal year may be about 80% or more. Therefore, the calculation of the shortfall of 8.988 tmc by the CWMA, wholly based on the shortfall in the four reservoirs of Karnataka, is not correct and misleading,” the rejoinder said.
Karnataka said Tamil Nadu’s demand for supply of 24,000 cusecs per day was wholly unjustified and based on a completely erroneous assumption that the water year of 2023-24 was a normal one.
Tamil Nadu had moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction to Karnataka to forthwith release 24,000 cusecs of Cauvery water from its reservoirs at Billigundulu for the remaining period of August, starting from August 14. The State said the release of water was a dire necessity to meet the pressing demands of the standing crops.
Tamil Nadu had also urged the apex court to direct Karnataka to ensure the stipulated releases for the month of September, 2023 (36.76 tmc) as per the Cauvery Tribunal award modified by the Supreme Court in 2018.
